CNers have asked about a donation box for Cloudy Nights over the years, so here you go. Donation is not required by any means, so please enjoy your stay.

M101, M104, and NGC 4565

I recently did some observing from my dark site on Toldeo Bend lake. It is a blue zone area. It is about an hour and 45 min. drive for me so I don't get to go as often as I would like to. But it is nice because it is a family fishing camp so I usually stay the night. So I am not rushed.

I used my 12 inch F5 dob for these sketches. I sketched other targets too but these were my favorites of that night.

I primarily used a Nagler 26 t5, 13 ethos, and 9 nagler t6.

Observing from this spot is spoiling me rotten.

M101

M104 I am not sure if I like how this one turned out. It looked much better through the 13 ethos and 9 nag.

NGC 4565 I think this one turned out the best. It helps that it is a fairly bright object too.

Thanks Chris, I do a rough sketch under red light then refine the best I can from memory as soon as I get inside under a well lit room. I just can't finalize the details at the eyepiece unless it is a moon lit night.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I did some testing from home with my new 16 inch dob recently and one of the targets I chose was M104 again. I was optically testing and testing sky commander. I sketched it again with a different paper and directly from the eyepiece.

The 12 easily beat the view at the dark site versus the 16 in a red zone. No surprise here.